1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a golf club head. More specifically, the present invention relates to a golf club head with a face component.
2. Description of the Related Art
High performance drivers employ relatively thin, high strength face materials. These faces are either formed into the curved face shape then welded into a driver body component around the face perimeter, or forged into a cup shape and connected to a body by either welding or adhesive bonding at a distance offset from the face of up to 0.75 inch or more. In a popular embodiment of the sheet-formed face insert driver, the weld between the formed face insert and the investment cast driver body is located on the striking face, a small distance from the face perimeter. It is common practice for the face insert to be of uniform thickness and to design the surrounding driver body component to be of equal thickness. In this way there is continuity of face thickness across the weld.
Several patents disclose face inserts. Anderson, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,024,437, 5,094,383, 5,255,918, 5,261,663 and 5,261,664, disclose a golf club head having a full body composed of a cast metal material and a face insert composed of a hot forged metal material.
Viste, U.S. Pat. No. 5,282,624 discloses a golf club head with a cast metal body and a forged steel face insert with grooves on the exterior surface and the interior surface of the face insert and having a thickness of 3 mm.
Rogers, U.S. Pat. No. 3,970,236, discloses an iron club head with a formed metal face plate insert fusion bonded to a cast iron body.
Galloway, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,354,962 discloses a golf club head of a face cup design.
However, there is a need for a golf club head with a face component that performs better than conventional face insert club heads and provides cost savings.